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Catalog Changes

July 10, 2013

When I started at MCPL, we kept our library catalog up to date by replacing and discarding catalog cards that listed the information for each book. As the times and technologies have changed, bringing first a computer-based catalog and then an Internet-based library catalog, the old card catalog became something of the past. I still remember the card catalog fondly, but I certainly enjoy the advancement of search options, the ability to place holds on items that are at a different location, and the ability to access the library catalog from anywhere you are.

Just as we had to move with the technology and replace the card catalog, we have to constantly be on top of the changes in the current online catalog options. As you may have noticed, we have recently advanced our catalog to a much more visual and intuitive system. While we had planned to roll this new catalog out slowly, the technology had other ideas. Our most recent mandatory software update to the old catalog caused the whole system to cease processing searches and requests. Luckily, we didn't have to go so far as to dust off the old card catalog to keep things running. Thanks to our testing and foresight to prepare our new catalog early, we were able to make the switch with a minimum of disruption to our library catalog and services.

Many of you, like me, may look back at the old catalogs with happy memories. But I think you’ll find that this new catalog offers a wonderful new experience. While many things may appear to have changed on the surface, the new catalog gives you what MCPL has always striven to give all of you: access to information, ideas, and innovation.

There are many new exciting features of the new catalog including searching only our eBook offerings, the ability to text your search results and narrow or expand your search without starting over, but many of the tried and true aspects are still there. The ability to create private book lists, search by author and title (now with just a keyword search), place holds (even on multiple items at once), and more.

One of my favorite features of the new catalog, and what I am sure will become your favorite, is that the searching is now using "fuzzy" logic. This means that words and phrases in certain parts of the library item’s information are given more weight than if those terms appeared in other places. For example, words in the title will show up sooner than those in the author, subjects, or summary fields of a record because the most common type of search that is done is a title search. In addition, the fuzzy searching allows for some misspelling of terms and can also include terms with different suffixes in the results that might not have appeared in the old catalog. For example, searching for the term “read” will also return results for “reader,” “reading,” and “reads.”

We have help documents available that will answer some of your basic questions. If you want a more in-depth look at the features of the new catalog, feel free to talk to your local librarian!

I would like to apologize for any inconvenience our switch may have caused you, but I am certainly glad that we had a Plan B in place, especially one that will provide an even better customer experience!

A special thanks to Cody Croan and Andrew McKinley for putting together this teaser video.

When I try to place a hold on a book at the libraries catalog computers, I can't get into my account. I can only get into my account to place a hold if I use the internet computers at the library. Will this change so I can place holds?

I tried to login after midnight. With effort I found a note that the system is down between 12am & 1am. Can you find a way to have the system remind us rather than me trying to login to my & my kids accounts & failing for no apparent reason?

Thank you for your comment. The magazines and newspapers are still listed in the catalog and you can find them by doing a title search, however, we are still working on getting the list of branches that subscribe to the paper copies to display. We will try to have this resolved soon.

In the meantime, when you search for a magazine or newspaper title, you may get some search results that point to an "electronic resource" which means you can click on a link in the record and access the magazine online. Many of our periodicals are available online as part of our Research Database collection.

Thank you for the quick reply. I will look forward to getting the branch list that the previous catalog system had for the print periodicals.

As far as the electronic resources, I find that other than Zinio (which do not include the more specialized magazines) and newspaper direct press display (which do not include many of the US newspapers such as Des Moines, St Louis, Omaha, Seattle, Dallas, etc), the other databases either do not have pictures or graphs or in many cases, do not even have all the articles. I like press display, but notice that several of the newspapers have been taken out such as the Dallas paper. I find it easier to drive downtown and read the newspapers at the KC library, than use the electronic databases. The databases are not a replacement for print (yet at least)and I miss the newspapers that this library used to carry in print because many of them are not available on press display. But I do notice that many of the magazines have been kept in print and I enjoy reading them.

The one fellow said this new system is unusable. Nicer term than I would use, basically it's useless. It doesn't even work half the time. The purpose of the card catalogue it to be a card catalogue. All the other stuff is frills.

As with most people, I don't prefer change. But I really enjoy the new catalog system. It's so much easier to narrow searches, and I love how easy it is to look to at upcoming movie titles to put on hold! All the negative comments make me kind of sad that a LOT of people aren't giving HQ and the catalog vendor a chance to work out the kinks. After all, it was forced out to the public a whole month ahead of schedule. Keep in mind, it was either let us use a not-so-ready system, that works sometimes, or not let us use a catalog system AT ALL! This way, we don't have to call the branch or go up there JUST to put a couple things on hold.

Thank you for your comment. I very much appreciate your approach to all of this. I am frequently very comfortable in old ways. In fact, I never like to change just for the sake of changing. However, it was very clear that we had to make a change. You are correct in pointing out that the whole migration was moved forward in an accelerated way that was really beyond our control. Those involved with the migration did a great job given the circumstances. Thanks for your understanding.

I think the new system provides a lot of opportunities for discovery and refinement that we previously didn't have. I also believe that the search results are much better than what we had with the legacy catalog. Those were some of the motivating factors to migrate to the new catalog. I am certain had we been able to stick to the original migration path, we would have enjoyed those features without much of the unpleasantness that we experienced.

Again, thank you so much for the positive comments. But most importantly, thank you for using your library.

I'm pretty excited about the fact that ISBNs are now included in the search. I work at a bookstore and ISBNs are magical for getting the EXACT book that you want, so it drove me nuts for the longest time that I had to figure out the right keywords to dig stuff out of the old catalog if it didn't work with the title the first time. So yay for that.

Quick question - does the catalog stop functioning late at night? Because it is currently 12:20am here and earlier - possibly *just* before 12am - I was able to login, but now it keeps saying login failed, which confuses me greatly. I don't see anywhere that the catalog shuts down late at night like the last one used to for backups, but maybe I'm wrong?

Yes, just like the former caatalog, the new catalog is down from approximately 12 to 1 am every night for backups. We are working on improving the message that is received at that time so that you will know what's going on.

One of the things I loved about the old catalog was how easy it was to suspend holds and to easily see what date the suspend would end. I would use this to make sure I didn't have too many holds come available at once. Now I have no idea when the suspended holds will become available in my account. Is there a way to remedy this?

Great question! If a hold is suspended, there is a calendar icon on the left side of the title. If you hover your mouse pointer over the calendar, it will show you the date the item was suspended and the date the suspension ends. Unfortunately, there are some devices where a "mouse hover" isn't possible (iPad, for example) so we have reported this limitation to our catalog vendor so that they can take a look at making this more device-universal.

I printed a list of my checkouts. To my dismay I saw that the words are so small I could barely read them. This is frustrating and unacceptable. Can you tell me if there is an adjustment I can make to be able to print a readable list?

Yes, there are definitely adjustments you can make within your browser to enlarge the font on a printout until we have the option available within the catalog itself for "printer-friendly" version. The instructions differ based on what browser and what version of it you are using. Please email me at info@mymcpl.org and let me know the browser and version and I will send you instructions.

Depending on the branch, the instructions are different. At most branches, you can use the File Menu to select Page Setup, and make changes such as selecting Landscape instead of Portrait, and unchecking the box for "Enable Shrink-to-fit" so that it doesn't try to fit everything on one page. A few branches don't have the File/Page Setup option, and at these branches I think the easiest thing to do would be to copy and paste your list into Microsoft Word and print from there in the font size you desire. Feel free to ask for assistance at the information desk at your branch for help!

This new system is a diaster! It's not progressive it's a relic from the past. It's slow, hard to navigate if you can log on at all. Your so called old system worked beautifully, and fast this one is a very unwelcome challenge and a true test of patience! Change it back or at the least give us a choice!

I am sorry that you don't like the new catalog. I think we will have to agree to disagree concerning the merits of the legacy catalog. I had a lot of problems with the search results from the legacy system. Much of those issues were inherent in the catalog's programming. While it may have been fast, my experience was that it routinely provided unexpected and illogical search results.

Unfortunately, we no longer have the option to provide the legacy catalog. As we were undertaking the standard updates and upgrades to our main library management system, those upgrades created a conflict between the database management environment, the operating system, the internet servers, and the application software. We cannot run the legacy catalog in an environment where the other updates have occurred. And we don't want to run in the old environment as it would not be supported by our hardware and software vendors and it would be open to potential security issues. All the pre-installation testing did not indicate this outcome. However, when we moved to the production servers, this was the outcome.

Lastly, I'm not sure about your last comment. Our blog comments do have a button to "save" or "preview" the comment.

I do not care for your new catalog system, it is very complicated and difficult to find what you want, and if it is the right thing. It is also hard to figure out the information about the book. It is very confusing to find the particular thing you want.

Thank you for your comment. I am sorry that you're finding the new catalog to be difficult. I agree that the new catalog can be complicated. On the other hand, it doesn't have to be complicated.

For the most part, I've had pretty good success typing in the title or author I'm looking for without any qualifiers or modifiers and for the item I'm looking for to come up on the first screen. On the other hand, if I want to limit by media, by branch, or create more complexities, the new system allows for that, too. Regardless, the searches are so much more predictable in the new system. In other words, when I create a simple search, it seems much more likely that I'm returned items that relate to what I'm looking for. That was almost never the case in the old system, unless you added in several qualifiers.

For me, the biggest issue was to learn the new screen layout. That did take getting used to. For instance, it took me a while to discover that the information about the book (summary, reviews, tables of contents, etc.) is below the list of copies. The copies information is "expanded" by default. If you minimize the copies section, you can easily see the choices for reviews, summaries, and the like.

Keep working with it. I think the discoveries are worth the effort. Thanks for using your library.

Absolutely HATE this catalog. I guess this is MCPLs idea of being "progressive"! The older catalog was simple, concise, clear. This is confusing, super wordy, tons of info all around not looking for and don't care about... don't know what about "less is more" that isn't understood. Was told that the other system could no longer be "supported." Well then, perhaps more time could have taken to find something that was user friendly and would actually work!

Seriously, the other day I tried to get in and time after time I was not even able to login... there was a silver circle going around and around and around, ad infinitum! After eight minutes of watching it and waiting, I exited.

Another time, when it actually allowed me to log in, I then clicked on "my account" and I was not allowed into my account. I clicked on it about 6 times and the page went NOWHERE! Never did get to see my account. Exited.

Once I was actually able to log in and tried to put something on hold but it never showed up as being on hold... how efficient! Exited.

The thing that really bothers me is that it is MY library, it belongs to the public. I pay taxes to support this library and the powers that be at HQ decide my tax dollars are going for THIS? All the while, there is a staff within each branch who work really hard but unfortunately, they are the ones who wrongfully have to bear the barrage of complaints and frustration from the patrons instead of those at HQ who are really responsible.

I have spoken to person after person who are just as disgusted with this as I am, so at least,I know it's not all in my head.

Seriously thinking of changing patronage to Kansas City Public Library System.

First, I want to apologize for the unpleasant experience that you’ve had with our new catalog. It is never my intent to make someone’s library experience less productive or not enjoyable.

Our migration to the new catalog was hurried due to unexpected software failure. The legacy system stopped functioning last week. Although the new catalog was up in “beta” and running in parallel, we still had several tasks to complete before we were ready to migrate completely to the new catalog. I believe that some of the performance issues that you mentioned were due to the hurried migration to the new platform. I apologize for the performance issues but I suspect that many of those have been addressed as we move closer to a complete installation.

I have felt the same feelings you’ve expressed in the past over our legacy catalog. To call the search results from the legacy catalog, “hit and miss” is at best kind. An example I can provide is that if you did a search for, The Sound of Music, you had to advance through four pages before you found the first record that had anything at all to do with the musical. The new catalog has a much better track record of returning the items you’re searching for in the first screen of results.

Again, I’m sorry for your unpleasant experience. However, I do believe that once you become accustomed to the new catalog, you will find many new features that you will like.

When adding a book to one of my lists there was a prompt to make that list my default list. At the time I did not realize that choosing this option would add every title I picked to this default list instead of letting me choose between my 3 lists which to add it to. Now I cannot figure out how to undo the default list. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone knows how to fix this.

So glad to hear you are enjoying the new catalog! To undo the default list selection, click on My Account and then select the Preferences tab. The second option is "preferred list" and you can choose "no default list" or one of your other lists.

Yes, the Summary feature is still available for the items that have that information. When you click on the title as you mentioned, scroll down below the list of branch libraries that own the title and you will see a gray bar that says "Summary" if one is available. Click on the gray bar to open that portion of the display. You will also find items such as Reviews, a Table of Contents, and any other added information that may be available here. Each section of additional information will have its own gray heading bar to click on to open that section.

You can report any issues or ask any other questions by emailing us at info@mymcpl.org.

I should revise my last post slightly. Instead of scrolling down past where the library branches that own the item are listed, you can click on the heading for that section which is titled "Available" and it will collapse it, making the heading for the "Summary" section move up on the page and into view.

When I log in and look at my book list. It doesn't show the complete book name and author and I don't know how to delete books I have read. When I hit check on the book and try to delete it it ask me if I want to delete the list and I don't what to do that. What I'm I doing wrong.

1. Click on My Lists in the upper right corner of the screen (assuming you are already logged in, if not, log in at the prompt).
2. Click on the title of the list that contains the book you want to delete.
3. Check the box next to the book you want to delete from the list.
4. Click on the Select an Action dropdown menu and select Delete Selected.
5. When the confirmation window appears that says "Are you sure you wish to remove the selected documents from your list?", click on the Delete button.

This should remove the item from your list.

Let me know if these steps don't work for you. You can contact me at info@mymcpl.org.

Can you email me at info@mymcpl.org and let me know what web browser you are using? After investigating this issue as Steve mentioned, we are finding that sometimes simply adjusting a setting in the browser will address this issue.

Thanks for you comment. I noticed that difference, too. I routinely cache my login information on my personal computer for many of the sites that I visit, too.

Our understanding is that the client-side web browser is actually the software responsible for allowing this to happen. The login moved to a pop-up that can appear on any screen without losing your search and that is a huge improvement. But, because it is a pop-up, I think browsers are having trouble knowing how to cache the information. Our team here is checking to see if there are settings that we can make on our side to help assure that information is seen by the browser and consequently, more likely to be able to be cached. If that is the case, we will make that setting change as I think most people (including me) would like that ability.

Please keep trying out the new catalog and let us know what you think. Thanks for using your library.

Thanks for you question and comment. Like you, I am very happy how the new systems works with the "back" button. I was always messing up my searches by accidentally hitting back! This is a great improvement.

We made a choice to eliminate the "login page." The designers of the new system made a choice to allow you to log in through a pop up on every page. So, no matter what you are searching or where you are in your account management, you can hit the "Log In" pop up and get to your personalized information without leaving your current query.

Continue to "kick the tires" on the new system and let us know what you think. Thanks for your comments and for using your library.

We get our pictures for FB from a couple of sources: sometimes we take stock photography we purchase and add the text, and others are found on sites like Pinterest. When we use pictures from Pinterest, we always try to include any relevant information to give proper credit. If you take a look at our photos in FB, you will notice that many include a website of origin. Also, we take quotes from widely available sources(like http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/books)and always give credit to the author if known. We purchased this photo through dreamstime.com(http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-education-library-book-floating-le...).

When I log into my account to check my list of books I've read, the 2013 list doesn't appear. The list from 2010, 2011, and 2012 appear. I don't remember what I've read this year. Is it lost forever? Also, why are some book covers only blue and not show the entire picture?

I have an update on the lists. As an attempt to help our customers that lost “MyLists” from the legacy catalog, our staff have extracted all the lists and posted them on the staff intranet. These can be retrieved by our staff for a customer on request. There is a single file for each customer. The file contains all of the titles that the customer had on his or her lists. The titles are grouped by the list name. Our staff can give your list to you on request.

Our staff have been instructed how to retrieve the lists from the staff intranet. If you feel that you don’t have all the titles on your list in the new catalog or you think that you are missing lists then our staff can provide you a printout of what was available in legacy catalog so that you can see what is missing from your lists in the new catalog.

I am sorry about the need to take this extra step. Had we been able to migrate in a less hurried way, we would have been able to avoid this workaround.

Thanks for the questions. The last few days have been a challenge for our staff. We really have been working on an incremental roll out. But completing this last prep stage practically rendered our legacy catalog useless. The MCPL staff are working recover from this unexpected situation.

Right now, our key staff are working on retrieving book lists from the old server. As things stand right now, we aren't certain that we will be able to put them into the new server. The MCPL staff are still working on possible solutions. Unfortunately, at this point, it looks like the migration may have to be manual. We are still looking at the options, presuming the MCPL staff can successfully extract the lists. We have a very talented team and all efforts will be made.

Concerning the blue covers, they appear when there isn’t corresponding cover art available from the company that provides our additional content like covers, summaries and reviews. The people that designed the new interface believe that the appearance is more consistent when all titles have “cover art” even if that cover is a generic blue box.